Why the iPad Mini is brilliant.

#1 - it destroys the 7" consumer tablet market just like that.#2 - it's the perfect device for enterprise where all you need is light content creation, status & command acknowledgement. Imagine an iPad Mini used for inventory control. It's so light and can host LOB applications.

#1 - it destroys the 7" consumer tablet market just like that.#2 - it's the perfect device for enterprise where all you need is light content creation, status & command acknowledgement. Imagine an iPad Mini used for inventory control. It's so light and can host LOB applications.

The iPad mini is brilliant, but not more so than the Nexus 7; #2 applies just as well, for example, at it's initial price point won't achieve #1 either.

Here's a better analysis as to why the iPad mini is brilliant:1) It's thinner and lighter than the N72) It's got a more powerful GPU than the N73) It's got better cameras than the N74) It's got a visually better display than the N7 (brightness, contrast, gamut)5) It's got better battery life than the N76) It's got better tablet optimized apps than the N7

#1 - it destroys the 7" consumer tablet market just like that.#2 - it's the perfect device for enterprise where all you need is light content creation, status & command acknowledgement. Imagine an iPad Mini used for inventory control. It's so light and can host LOB applications.

The iPad mini is brilliant, but not more so than the Nexus 7; #2 applies just as well, for example, at it's initial price point won't achieve #1 either.

Here's a better analysis as to why the iPad mini is brilliant:1) It's thinner and lighter than the N72) It's got a more powerful GPU than the N73) It's got better cameras than the N74) It's got a visually better display than the N7 (brightness, contrast, gamut)5) It's got better battery life than the N76) It's got better tablet optimized apps than the N7

No wonder Apple has sold 100 million iPads to date. They are better in every single category.

I love how the smaller tablet market (7-8") NOW makes so much sense. I'm so glad Apple thought of it!

-- sent from my 7" tablet

7" tablets still suck as their relatively poor sales numbers will show. Like I said the N7 appears to have better than smooth sales, but the number is talked up instead of being stated directly. The only question now is will Google sink to an Amazon type low and pull market share numbers out of their butts.

Had Apple initially launched a 7.9-inch iPad, I actually think it may have failed. It simply would have been deemed too close in size to the iPhone/iPod touch. “Tablets make no sense” yadda yadda.

It took the 9.7-inch as a sort of proof-of-concept and perhaps just as importantly, a catalyst to get developers thinking about the tablet as different from the smartphone. The iPad mini directly benefits from both developers and consumers now willing to think differently.

Never mind that all of a sudden "retina" is no longer important. Suddenly "low res" is brilliant. Just last month it was pathetic (see Surface)

Never mind that all of a sudden "retina" is no longer important. Suddenly "low res" is brilliant. Just last month it was pathetic (see Surface)

I'd be curious if you could find particular individuals who have taken both of those positions. My opinion is that the lack of a Retina display isn't enough to prevent the iPad mini from selling quite well, but I, personally, am uninterested in purchasing the product because of this omission, and I've expressed that opinion to several people who have asked me about it in real life.

Had Apple initially launched a 7.9-inch iPad, I actually think it may have failed. It simply would have been deemed too close in size to the iPhone/iPod touch. “Tablets make no sense” yadda yadda.

It took the 9.7-inch as a sort of proof-of-concept and perhaps just as importantly, a catalyst to get developers thinking about the tablet as different from the smartphone. The iPad mini directly benefits from both developers and consumers now willing to think differently.

Never mind that all of a sudden "retina" is no longer important. Suddenly "low res" is brilliant. Just last month it was pathetic (see Surface)

Well, I think you exaggerate here. I'm an admirer of some of Apple's products but will never go back to a tablet display with a lower DPI than my current 9.7" iPad. For me, the display makes the so-called iPad Mini a miss. I also love the screen real-estate of the 9.7" iPad. If you look more widely, you'll see that quite a few people, and most reviewers I've read, have pointed out that this is an inferior iOS device because of the display.

The thing is the non retina mini isn't targeted at iPad retina owners, it's for people who don't have iPads.For those people it's still a higher resolution display (by area) than the original iPad, and more importantly, the non tablet they currently don't own.

Never mind that all of a sudden "retina" is no longer important. Suddenly "low res" is brilliant. Just last month it was pathetic (see Surface)

I'd be curious if you could find particular individuals who have taken both of those positions. My opinion is that the lack of a Retina display isn't enough to prevent the iPad mini from selling quite well, but I, personally, am uninterested in purchasing the product because of this omission, and I've expressed that opinion to several people who have asked me about it in real life.

Well, right here within the BF we had certain individuals that had declared anything less than Retina class to be "crappy".

The thing is the non retina mini isn't targeted at iPad retina owners, it's for people who don't have iPads.For those people it's still a higher resolution display (by area) than the original iPad, and more importantly, the non tablet they currently don't own.

There are already blog posts about people ditching their iPads for the Mini because it's thinner, lighter and smaller.

The speculation in fact is that the Mini will cannibalize the iPad. So clearly, retina doesn't matter...at least for the time being. We should get a retina display on the thing before the middle of next year I'm sure. So I suppose the point is moot. But it's still amusing to see people who said they couldn't bear to go back to non-retina displays make a 180 on the issue.

But it's a weird thing to consider it as a battle between the N7 and the iPad mini. At the very least, it should be 7" Android tablets vs. 7" iOs tablets. There's no huge difference between the N7 and the Kindle Fire HD or the Nook Colour for instance.

The thing is the non retina mini isn't targeted at iPad retina owners, it's for people who don't have iPads.For those people it's still a higher resolution display (by area) than the original iPad, and more importantly, the non tablet they currently don't own.

...Or people like me who find the 9.7 iPad too heavy. I have an iPad 2 from work that I enjoy reading and surfing on (use it constantly on the couch) and will be buying a Mini for myself because not only is it really thin and light (things the newer iPads went away from out of necessity) but has longer battery life than the original. For what I do it's going to be wonderful. I have an iPhone 5 and the high rez screen does make text look great, but I haven't been spoiled by the newer iPads yet, so I'll be fine.

The thing is the non retina mini isn't targeted at iPad retina owners, it's for people who don't have iPads.For those people it's still a higher resolution display (by area) than the original iPad, and more importantly, the non tablet they currently don't own.

There are already blog posts about people ditching their iPads for the Mini because it's thinner, lighter and smaller.

The speculation in fact is that the Mini will cannibalize the iPad. So clearly, retina doesn't matter...at least for the time being. We should get a retina display on the thing before the middle of next year I'm sure. So I suppose the point is moot. But it's still amusing to see people who said they couldn't bear to go back to non-retina displays make a 180 on the issue.

Then link to them because the number one criticism of the iPad mini is its lack of a retina display.

But it's a weird thing to consider it as a battle between the N7 and the iPad mini. At the very least, it should be 7" Android tablets vs. 7" iOs tablets. There's no huge difference between the N7 and the Kindle Fire HD or the Nook Colour for instance.

It apparently sold close to 1 million units in one month. So they want you to think 999,000 when it could be more like 750,000. Which is respectable given the past history of these Android tablets. However most of that could still be channel fill, if they are still reporting those numbers next summer we know for sure they're ending up in the hands of end users. No 7" tablet will make it to 20 million in the next three years but the iPad mini will do that no later than the next three quarters.

Here is another prediction of mine. Although everyone is happy to call the iPad mini a 7" tablet by next Christmas that won't be the case. By then Google and Amazon will be talking about market share of $200 tablets or less. Android fans will be happy to call the mini an 8" tablet so they can act like Apple is still missing the boat because the mini is to big.

The thing is the non retina mini isn't targeted at iPad retina owners, it's for people who don't have iPads.For those people it's still a higher resolution display (by area) than the original iPad, and more importantly, the non tablet they currently don't own.

There are already blog posts about people ditching their iPads for the Mini because it's thinner, lighter and smaller.

The speculation in fact is that the Mini will cannibalize the iPad. So clearly, retina doesn't matter...at least for the time being. We should get a retina display on the thing before the middle of next year I'm sure. So I suppose the point is moot. But it's still amusing to see people who said they couldn't bear to go back to non-retina displays make a 180 on the issue.

Then link to them because the number one criticism of the iPad mini is its lack of a retina display.

I'm not claiming that, they could be legitimately filling the channel. Christmas is coming and the best way to make sure you get no sales is to have no inventory. So they are clearly _filling_ the channel. The question is will we see the N7 in use, how long do you think it is before we start seeing stats about iPad mini web usage? If people are buying these things and putting them in drawers sales will slow and we should see it by next summer by the latest. If they are still shipping a million a month next summer then people are clearly using them and telling their friends to get one.

YoungHov wrote:

I'm not saying they don't diss the screen, I'm saying these are people who were dissing the low res screens of Android/Windows devices just a few months ago.

Come on man this is BS. Please tell me what is the redeeming feature of those low res Android/Windows devices that a reviewer should have over look that particular deficiency? Go read Jacqui's review it's very much _the screen sucks_ but _the a smaller iPad is compelling_. The conclusion of most of the reviews I have read isn't that _smaller tablets are compelling_ but that the _smaller iPad is compelling_. Given the rich ecosystem that has build up around the iPad this should not be surprising. Seriously why are you surprised that for some people a smaller, lighter, iPad that can run all the same apps as the bigger iPad would be a good trade off for them. I didn't read your links but I'm assuming just like every other reviewer they mention that they would love to have a iPad mini with a high res display.

Why are you trying to box people in, there is a clear trade off here.- Heavier bigger iPad with high res display.- Lighter smaller iPad with low res display.

Don't box people in for making trade offs when they would clearly be the first people in line when they no longer have to make that trade off. If you want to call people out on something it should be not seeing the benefits of a smaller tablet before the iPad mini. In my defence on that issue I still think 16:10 7" tablets suck. I would like to see a 4:3 7" android tablet, I think 4:3 is clearly the shape for tablets and there might be a market for something a little smaller than the mini. However without a tablet app ecosystem it will most likely still fail.

I'm not saying they don't diss the screen, I'm saying these are people who were dissing the low res screens of Android/Windows devices just a few months ago.

Pfft. We've always been at war with Oceania. Do you seriously expect logical consistency from an Apple fan? They work backwards from "Apple product is great"

Am I the only one missing the ignore user button?

Why, because the truth hurts too much? Look, the vast majority of iPad users dismissed the smaller form factor. And while I do agree 7" is too narrow and small for proper tablet use the sudden surprise and delight about thumbability and weight from a lot of apple centric reviewers comes across as if they never took this category serious until Apple launched its miniPad.

I for one think both the 8" and 10" iPad sizes are positioned akwardly in between categories. Long term I can see the 7" portability class be accompanied by a 9" midsized class and the 11" pro class a la Surface. The original iPad was always an akward product to me: too heavy for comfortable tablet use, too small for productivity like the Surface.

I'm trying to refrain from making a crude comment here, so here's this instead:

Do not worry SmoledMan, there will always be space for non-Apple vendors because there will always be people interested in alternatives to Apple's products. Apple's sales numbers may be great, but it's no basis for you (or dwell) to go around acting superior because it doesn't in any way suggest any sort of success on your part.

Now when will this troll of a thread be dealt with? Or does it get a pass because it's pro-Apple?

I have found the relentless spin from Siegler and Gruber dizzying. They parroted the party line about smaller tablets for years before loudly proclaiming that they're switching to the iPad mini. For my own part I use the iPad as a laptop replacement so I don't have a burning need for a smaller-screened device. I'm also not willing to part with the high-DPI screen of the iPad for the mini.

It's also too much money. $299 would have been a much better starting point while preserving a healthy 30% margin (if iSuppli's estimates of the mini's BOM is correct) That extra $30 is a huge psychological barrier, IMHO. At the low price of the Nexus 7, I've been tempted to pick one up purely out of curiosity. I can't say the same for the mini.

Right now, apparently the thinness and weight of the iPad Mini trump the low res display. Apple pundits spin this as a great trade-off.

6 months from now Apple ships the iPad Mini with retina display but at the expense of thinness and weight. Two guesses as to what the pundits will say.

You're acting like pundits are currently going around and saying "I like the iPad mini because it's precisely 0.69 pounds, and any tablet that's 0.7 pounds or more totally sucks", so if a future Retina model is 0.7 pounds or more, and they endorse it, they'll be hypocrites. But of course nobody is actually saying that.

I'm not saying they don't diss the screen, I'm saying these are people who were dissing the low res screens of Android/Windows devices just a few months ago.

If the Surface came out at $329 in an 8" form factor, no one would have complained about the screen resolution.

Hint to the terminally clueless: Reviews are meant to guide the viewer not only to the merit of the product itself, but how it stands relative to the competition. The Surface's 1366x768 resolution was fine, but that was before it decided to price itself identically to the much-higher res tablet with an entrenched ecosystem.

It's like complaining about phone reviews that take marks off for not having LTE, when years ago 3G was "fine". It was then, the point is the market has moved on and most of the competition offers it now as standard, so relative to that it deserves to be pointed out as a deficiency.